Viva la revolution, all you bovine lovers!
It just so happens that I was asked about my vegetarian ways today by someone with the question “What sort of practicalities or issues do you run into?” and a link to this article, “Bellying Up to Environmentalism”. My response was as follows. I have much to say on the topic and even what I have here only scratches the surface. If you want a short answer then you should stop reading now and just know that I am a vegetarian not because of my love of animals or the environment, it is because I hate plants.
Seriously though, I’ve been a vegetarian for over 13 years. I am of the ovo-lacto variety. I eat eggs and dairy products. I even occasionally buy something made of leather or other animal products.
I was hardly raised vegetarian. G pointed out to me the other day that being a vegetarian was part of my teenage rebellion. I live in a meat eater’s world here in the United States, where it is frequently difficult to get anything other than a salad or perhaps some pasta at restaurants as the only real vegetarian options. I am never surprised but always disappointed when the main part of my meal is some sort of fried potato. Our culture views meat as a nutritional necessity, though I am living proof it is not. Our meals in this country tend to focus on the meat, and view everything else as something added to the meat. e.g. A hamburger is not a hamburger unless it has the meat. The pickle, lettuce, tomato, etc. are all toppings.
When I do eat out I do tend toward the foreign foods. They tend to view the meat as an additive. Go to a Thai or Chinese restaurant, for example, and tofu is easily swapped for chicken without compromising the essence of the meal. In mexican food, beans is offen the substitute. With Indian meat can be left out 9 times out of 10 and you would never know the difference. Even Italian food is typically centered around the pasta, the bread or the sauce.
At home it is a similar story. G (who is essentially a vegetarian because of me, and not when we go out to eat) and I tend to cook meals without meat, usually with either rice, pasta, bread, pie crust, spaghetti squash, or burritos as a base, and then assorted vegetables, tofu, beans, and sauses added. For some things we have swapped out a vegetable alternative. e.g. instead of cheeseburgers, we frequently use portobello mushrooms in place of the burger. Instead of meatballs, G makes the most delicious eggplant balls, instead of deli meats on sandwhiches I spread hummus. We do use the fake ground beef, and the veggie burgers, and fake chicken patties too, but mostly because they are quick to prepare. I do not think of them as “fake meat” though because they rarely taste like meat and anyone expecting meat will be disappointed. They are really their own type of food.
It is difficult for me to be too picky if I want to eat out at restaurants at all. I know the veggie burgers were likely grilled on the same stove as the burgers. The fries were fried in the same fryer as the chicken wings. My veggie sub was sliced on the same cutting board and with the same knife as all the meat sandwiches. You just have to keep your eyes open and accept that there will be contamination or even that the veggy soup you just took a big spoonful was actually chicken soup.
I’ve known for a long time that being vegetarian is more environmentally friendly. Guilting people into being vegetarian is probably the wrong approach to try vegetarianism or reduce meat intake. There is definitely a financial savings by eating less meat, but more importantly there is a huge health savings. For example I had my choleterol tested last year and the doctor said it was “perfect”. I got a perfect score. No force fed cherrios for me! I challenge any meat eater to produce the same results. I would also say that about a month or two after I did make the initial switch I never felt better. I lost weight immediately too. I also opened my eyes to a world of food that I had previously only eaten because “it was good for me”. I have to believe now that vegetables taste more appealing to me because I crave them, not meat. By shutting out meat I actually feel like I opened a lot more doors to other flavors and cultures of food that I had previously avoided.
Given the frequency of meat recalls, and knowing that so much meat is bathed in ammonia to sterilize it, or contains high amounts of hormones, drugs, or mercury, I feel better not touching the stuff. The fruit and vegetable industries are not without fault though (e.g. Monsanto engineered corn, over insecticided apples, spinach recalls, etc.), so that alone is not enough. Really that is an arguement to go free range and organic.
If you eat egg and/or dairy, you will still get plenty of protein. Even then you do not need animal protein to survive, as my Vegan friends have proved. Don’t believe the protien myth the meat eaters will tell you. How the body uses and produces protiens is another lecture entirely though.
I would encourage meat eaters to consider eating meat only once a day if they are eating it twice now or fewer times per week if they are eating it every day. Or perhaps next time you make a meat dish at home, reduce the amount of meat put in in exchange for more of the other ingredients. Personal as well as environmental benefits can still be gained through reduction.
…oh and if that is not enough to convince you, then perhaps the threat of cows with guns will do it? No? What about the chickens in choppers?
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Click here for more info on Dana Lyons – Cows With Guns – “Cows With Guns”.
The MP3 may be purchased here: Dana Lyons - Cows With Guns
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